Current Trends and Issues in Hispanic Linguistics

Four papers address trends and issues in Hispanic linguistics. "Recent Trends in Hispanic Linguistics" (Frank Nuessel) gives an overview of benchmarks in research on diachronic, sociolinguistic, and applied aspects of Spanish phonology, morphology, syntax, and semantics. "African Influence on Hispanic Dialects" (John Lipski) explores the African languages' contributions to Spanish American morphology, syntax, and phonetics. "The Spanish Teacher as Dialectologist" (Mark G. Goldin) examines a variety of approaches to dialect and the insights they can provide for Spanish second language instruction. "Noun Gender Categories in Spanish and French: Form-Based Analyses and Comparisons" (Richard V. Teschner) summarizes a study of the rules governing noun gender in those two languages, concluding that while Spanish gender can be reduced to a few brief but powerful and economical rule statements, French noun gender is less amenable to simple analysis, but learning the noun genders of each can help in the learning of the other. (MSE)